How to Trick or Treat (in Five Easy Steps)

There was a lot of trick or treat practicing going on at school leading up to Halloween.  Noah's teacher broke it down in five easy steps.  Step 1:  Put on your costume. Step 2: Knock on the door.  Step 3:  Say "trick or treat."  Step 4: Get candy.  Step 5: Say "thank you."  These kids were carrying around cards all week reminding them of these five easy steps.  Seems like something so simple, but to a kid on the spectrum, sometimes something as simple as Halloween can be a bit challenging.  Last year, I was amazed that the teachers were able to get Noah to wear his costume with  no trouble.  This year I had no doubt that not only would Noah wear his costume, but that he would really have some fun with the whole holiday.  I tagged along at school to see his trick or treating prep before the big day.

Put on your costume.  Check.

Walking with Miss L over to the big kid building for some trick or treating.

Momma, are you watching this? Time to do some knocking.

Trick of treat!  Get some candy in your bag.

Don't forget to say "thank you."  This trick or treating stuff is F-U-N.

Emma's First Halloween

What a pretty peacock!

Halloween 2011: A List

1. Emma was a peacock for her first Halloween.  She dressed in costume for a quick photo op and then was off to bed. First Halloween photo. Check.

2. Noah was Spiderman.  Why Spiderman? So, last year Noah was a spider. They really build up Halloween at his school making sure all the kids know the trick or treat rules. So, I think Noah just assumed Halloween = spider costume. I was able to at least talk him into Spiderman instead of the same as last. Kind of a spider, but not.

3. How cute is Emma watching her big brother like a hawk. 

4. Noah: "Hey Momma, where's your costume, Momma."
Me: "What do you want momma to be?"
Noah: "Momma to be a witch."
Daddy thought it was hilarious. Hardy har har. Looks like Momma and Daddy will need to find our own costumes next year.

5. Noah was super excited when the trick or treaters came to our door. Unfortunately I don't think school touched on what to do if you were the  candy giver instead of the trick or treater. Noah invited everyone to "come on in."

6. Obviously used to treating in a crowd, Noah constantly told Daddy, "Let's go find our friends." He'd pass up porchlit, candy giving houses to tag after the costumed kiddos. Then he'd shout, "hey kids, follow me."

7. After about a block and a half, Noah decided he was done. "Hey Momma. We need to go home. We need to find clothes."

8. Thanks to Word World's Kooky Spooky Halloween, Noah's been having quite a bit of Halloween talk flowing from his mouth. Things like. "We need bags to put the treats in." and "You know, B-A-G. Bag."  And, Noah loves his treat bags. He made this one at school. He slept with his candy filled treat bag. And, amazingly enough didn't touch a piece of the candy. I wasn't even able to finagle a piece of chocolate. I'm afraid the bag itself may not last the week. 

9. We actually bought his costume brand new, but after a couple weeks of heavy trick or treating at school, well, things were starting to fall apart by the big night. 

10.  Thanks Grammy for staying behind to hand out candy (oh, and watch Emma), so Daddy and I could enjoy some trick or treating with Noah. 

10.  Nothing made me prouder than to see my sweet boy walk right up to the doors, knock, wait for his candy and move on to the next house.  It was a good night. 

Field Trip - The Pumpkin Patch 2011

What a difference a year makes. Noah took the very same field trip last year to the pumpkin patch.

Last year, he took a picture on this very same pile of pumpkins. This year he is such a big boy, I can't stand it.

Last year, he was afraid of the hay ride, but stoically handled it. This year he hopped right on and was ready to go.

Last year, I got him to sit on a pumpkin. This year he climbed right to the top.

Last year, " no, not train ride." This year, "train car number 7 please. Let's do this."

Last year, I was barely pregnant for Emma and feeling so very sick. This year Emma was in tow and ended up just a little bit sick from the cold weather.  She was super content bundled up in her Baby Bjorn. It stinks that she's running a bit of a temp tonight, but hopefully, it will be out pretty quickly.

I felt like such a proud mommy today. Noah was so excited about his field trip, but he still did some great listening, sat and ate his snack (I'm pretty sure he was super hungry,), and greeted all his friends.

 

Is there anything better than the feeling of your child having a great day?

Five Things Friday 10.28.11 - Photo Purge

1. Emma's getting to be such a big girl.  All ready for her hand-me-down exersaucer from her future Facebook friend Graeme.

2. Happy Birthday to Daddy!  As a surprise, the kids and I stopped by work with cake and balloons.  My grandma may have walked barefoot through the snow to church, but I carried take-out lunch, a chocolate sheet cake, a bouquet of balloons, a wrapped gift, a 4-month old and a four year old from the parking garage to the ninth floor of the hospital just to wish our Daddy a "Happy Birthday!"

3. Here's a sneak peek of Baby E's Halloween costume.  Cutie!

4. Mrs. Jaime gave bottle feeding a shot with Baby Emma.  Emma's response, "it's not you, it's me, Mrs. Jaime."

5. I know I say this all the time, but these guys love each other.  Emma has started pulling on Noah's hair if he's in arms length.  And, now Noah will come up to her with his head down ready for some tough love from baby sister. 

PS - Apparently, I am liking this green dress with the orange stripey pants on Emma because she wore it multiple times this week.  Don't worry Grammy, she is still wearing some of the "pretty" dresses. 

Halloween Treats

I picked up this box of brownies at Target over the weekend.  I though it would be fun to do at home, and it really looked like some super easy decorating.

Noah had a blast.  He was determined to cover the entire marshmallow with green icing. 

Lots of messy fun!  Believe me, I am way craftier in my head than this execution would suggest.

Bottle Boycott

Emma is not a fan of the bottle.  It's my fault for not starting one earlier, because she honestly has no idea what to do with it.  She's literally only taken about... um... 3.  Ever.

Thanks Momma!  But, I'm not really sure what you want me to do with this.

Look Ma, no hands.

Ha. Ha.  This is funny. 

Brotherly Love

This little girl loves her big brother.


And, it's just the sweetest thing ever!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Good Morning Little One

We were at the pedi on Friday for a weight check. She's grown... a bit. Hasn't fallen any lower on the chart. Doctor mentioned missing just one feeding can make her not gain. This weekend I was all geared up to wake her up in the middle of the night to squeeze in a dream feed. That so didn't happen, but thanks to Noah we are up bright and early. Who would have thought too much sleep could be an issue?

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

What Up Cuz?

Emma and Noah finally got to meet their new baby cousin, Peyton. 

Fun times with her cousin Peyton.  When Noah saw the girls together on the bed, he said, "Look.  Another Emma."

Loved seeing Uncle PNut be a Daddy.  What an awesome little family!

Group shot!

Midnight Snack

OK... not really midnight, but on vacation, ice cream before bed is a-okay.  So, you head to the hotel snack shop wearing your pajamas and pick up said ice cream.

 

You bring it back to your room and get after it.

And, you don't even think twice about enjoying your yummy treat in front of baby sister.

And, then you notice, she's watching you.

And, it's almost like she's begging for a little lick.  So, why not?

Sorry Em.  Momma says no.

Great Wolf Lodge

Noah had a fall break from school, so Daddy took vacation, and we headed out of town. North. To the GREAT WOLF LODGE. OWHHHH!

That's a big yawn, Noah.  What's a family vacation without a bit of late night travel?  Here we are arriving at the Great Wolf Lodge sometime around midnight.  Kudos to Daddy for the driving.

Kudos to Emma for following in her brother's footsteps and being a rock star traveler. 

We stayed in a Kid Cabin. Noah had his own bunk bed area. He loved it and slept great. Hmmm... Maybe we should sell our house and move to a hotel.

The water park was very fun. And, although he had to be coerced every day to get into his swimsuit. Noah had a blast once he was in the water.

Daddy and I took turns taking Noah down to the water park.  Noah loved the wave pool, the lazy river, and most of all the toddler area. 

Daddy even got a chance to ride a few of the "taller than 48" rides.

His limit usual maxed out at around an hour and a half. Then he would say to me, "I'm soaking wet. You want to get dressed."

Noah did have an injury day one. While going down one of the bigger kiddie slides solo. He got a huge blister on his hand. My guess is that he put his hand down on the slide to slow down. It looked like it really hurt and combined with how tired he was, there was a bit of drama over the wound later  in the day.

After a nap, he rebounded with a trip to build a bear and the Sea Life aquarium. We didn't want to miss out on using our annual pass.

Noah's favorite part of the lodge was the game room. And, his favorite game in the game room was the Spongebob game. It was actually not much of a game at all, but more like a token stealer stingy ticket giver kind of machine. It ate plenty of our tokens, but luckily, it spit out enough tickets to keep Noah in full supply of lollipops over the weekend.

I think Emma enjoyed our trip too. She started belly laughing this weekend.  And, Daddy was so happy to be there to see it.  She also spent lots of time in the carrier helping Momma chase big brother, and she got lots of extra snuggle time with Momma trying to add a few pounds.

She's a huge fan of the outward facing position in the carrier and loves to watch everything going on around her.